BEATING THE ODDS: Man Survives 3 Heart Attacks

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Eighty-year old Bob Sharp has had three heart attacks and lived to tell his tale.

He credits one important lifestyle change for saving his life and hasn't looked back since.

Bob Sharp has a lot to celebrate. On top of turning 80, he's in great physical condition.

Bob is extremely loyal to his workouts.

“I`m trying to get my heart rate up a little bit,” says Bob Sharp.

It's these workouts that have helped him survive what could have killed him.

Bob suffered his first heart attack in 1976 at the age of 41, he was in good health but that didn't matter.

“I`m from a family of 12 and everyone but one has had a heart attack,” says Sharp.

Bob started hitting the gym and attending cardiac rehab classes to keep his heart strong, but just 6 years later he suffered another heart attack.

But he kept coming back to class.

“I`ve been coming 37 years to this class, since 1976 it`s helped me a lot. I don`t think I’d of made it otherwise,” says Sharp.

Three years later he married his wife Helen, but just months into their marriage he suffered his third heart attack and went in for a transplant.

“Overall his body was in great shape so that helped a lot when he had his heart transplant and then continuing to exercise just continued that health benefit too,” says RN Amanda Kinzenbaw from Iowa Lutheran Hospital.

Kinzenbaw says Bob is one of the regulars at her class and it's his dedication that has helped him stay young.

“He`s taken great care of his heart that was a huge gift to him,” says Kinzenbaw.

Bob agrees and credits sticking to a four decade old workout plan for helping him beat the odds.

“It taught me that if you don`t exercise your body, nobody is going to do it for you so you better do it
yourself,” says Sharp.

Doctors say Bob has become a model of what patients should do following a heart transplant.

He is often asked to share his story with other patients and encourages them to also live a healthy lifestyle.

1 Comment

I had my first heart attack at age 40 in 2002. I had my second in 2008. I’m going to be 52 soon and I attribute my survival to the desire to have another cigarette. All I could think of in the back of that ambulance was God let me survive this because I have a fresh pack of Marlboros in the refrigerator at home. In the cath lab I begged them to call my loved ones and tell them to come to the hospital right away, with a cigarette. And each morning as I’m drinking my beer, I light up one of those delicious love sticks and thank them for giving me the will to live.